According to certain documents dating back to the 6th century, wheat gluten (base for seitan) was first discovered in China. It was widely consumed especially among Buddhists, replacing meat.
The oldest reference to wheat gluten appears in "Quivi Yaoshu", a Chinese agricultural encyclopedia written by Jia Sixie in the year 535; the book mentions a kind of spaghetti prepared with wheat gluten called "bo duo". The ancestor of the Seitan, through the Song dynasty (960-1279), was later renamed "Mian Jin".
Wheat gluten only arrived in the West from the 18th century AD "De grano", an Italian treatise of 1745 on the homonymous grass described already the process of washing the flour for the extraction of proteins.
John Imison quoted an English-language definition of gluten in the "Elements of Science and Art", published in 1803.
Since 1830, Western doctors have recommended wheat gluten in the diet against diabetes.
At the end of the 19th century, in the USA, Seventh-day Adventists also promoted its consumption; not surprisingly, "Sanitarium Food", a company affiliated with John Harvey, in 1882 advertised a wheat gluten product.
